On July 16, 2015 four US Marines and a sailor were shot dead by an Islamic fanatic in Chattanooga. The New York Times reported that although federal officials were “treating this as an act of domestic terrorism” the killer, Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, had been tracked as having “had this week posted at least two Islam-focused writings on a blog, including one in which he described life as ‘short and bitter.’ He also said that Muslims should not miss ‘the opportunity to submit to Allah’.”
Exactly a week before four of his comrades were murdered by Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, on 9 July 2015, US Marine General Joseph Dunford appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee and announced that “If you want to talk about a nation that could pose an existential threat to the United States, I would have to point to Russia. And if you look at their behaviour, it’s nothing short of alarming.” He said that without weapons to counter tank and artillery fire, Ukrainian troops would not be able to fend off “Russian aggression” and that “from a military perspective it’s reasonable that we provide that support to the Ukrainians.”